Refrigerating apparatus



Sept. 1, 1964 R. E. GOULD 3,146,601

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS I Fild Feb. 4, 1963 45118825-511861'. 1

fi'g'gl INVENTOR RICHARD E GOULD AT TORNEV R- E. GOULD REFRIGERATINGAPPARATUS Sept. 1, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 4, 1963 Sept. 1,1964 R. E. GOULD REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 4,1965 Unite States Patent 6 3,146,601 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Richard E.Gould, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit,Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 255,863Claims. ((31. 62-3) This invention relates to refrigerator apparatus andmore particularly to a refrigerator including an improved thermoelectricice making arrangement. 7

The provision of separate freezer units in many households has made itdesirable to provide a refrigerator having the food compartment thereofdevoted solely to the storage of fresh foods at temperatures in therange of 35 F. Such a refrigerator can be freezerless and therefrigerant system cooling the space can operate at relatively high backpressures as compared to refrigerant systems supplying a freezingcompartment and hence is more etlicient. One problem with suchfreezerless refrigerators, however, is that no means are present formaking ice cubes or the like.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide improvedmeans for producing ice in a freezerless refrigerator without afiectingthe efficient operation of the refrigerant system thereof.

A further object is to provide ice making capability in a freezerlessrefrigerator by means of an improved thermoelectric unit and ice-makerarrangement in the door thereof.

Still further objects are to provide an improved ice maker andthermoelectric ice making panel arrangement including improved means fordissipating heat from the hot junctions of the thermoelectric unit; andto provide such heat dissipation by passing a portion of a water supplyfor an automatic ice maker into heat transfer relationship with such hotjunctions.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention isclearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator having the presentinvention included in the door thereof;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary front view partially broken away of one formof the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a view in horizontal section taken along the line 3-3 ofFIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an irregular, vertical, sectional view taken along the line44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a thermocoupleconstruction; and

FIGURE 6 is a wiring diagram for the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURE 1,reference numeral 16 designates a freezerless refrigerator cabinethaving a food storage space 12 therein accessible through an opening inthe front thereof normally closed by means of an insulated door 14. Thefood storage space is devoted to the storage of fresh foods requiring acompartment temperature in the range of 35 F. In the illustratedembodiment, the food storage space 12 is cooled by a conventionalrefrigerator system including a compressor 16, a condenser 18 and anevaporator 20, it being understood that the system includes a suitablepower source, means for expanding compressed refrigerant and athermostat for controlling the flow of hot compressed gas from thecompressor through the condenser and thence into the evaporator forcooling the compartment. Due to the fact that the refrigeration systemneed only cool the food storage space to 35 F., the system has a highback presice sure and hence operates at a coefficient of performance,which may be expressed as B.t.u.s of cooling per wattage input, betterthan that present in refrigeration systems that must be capable ofmaintaining portions of the refrigerator cabinet below freezingtemperatures.

The improved thermoelectric unit and ice-maker arrangement of thepresent invention is illustrated as being associated with the insulateddoor 14 of the refrigerator cabinet 16 and is more particularlyillustrated as being associated with a cooling space 22 formed in thedoor 14 having an access opening provided thereto normally closed by aninsulated door 24 for insulating the space 22 from the food storagespace 12 in the refrigerator 16. An ice-maker apparatus 26 isoperatively disposed within the space 22 to provide a predeterminedamount of icemaking capability in the refrigerator cabinet 10 withoutaffecting the cooling characteristics of the compressor system for thefood storage space 12.

More particularly, the ice-maker apparatus 26 comprises a pair ofelongated guide members 28, 30 directed longitudinally of the ice-makingspace 22. The guide member 28 is fastened by suitable means to an innerwall 32 of the ice-making space 22 and to a plate 34 removably connectedto the inner wall 32 at one end of the space 22 and the guide members28, 30 are interconnected at one end thereof by a rivet 36 having abearing 38 rotatably mounted thereon supporting a roller 40. Amulti-teethed sprocket 42 is rotatably supported between the oppositeends of the guide members with the sprocket 42 and roller 49 forming asupport for an endless belt 46 of a flexible, resilient, plasticmaterial, for example polyethylene, thereon for movement thereacross.

The belt 46 has a plurality of receptacles 48 continuously arrangedtherearound with the belt being sufliciently taut so that the bottoms ofthe receptacles 48 are pushed outwardly as they contact the roller 40.

The sprocket 42 is operatively connected to a motor 56 through gearing51 and a shaft 52 with the motor 50 being located within the door 14 soas to be insulated from the cooling space 22 and accessible through theremovable plate 34. The shaft 52 has cams 54, 56 mounted thereonoperatively associated with water supply means for the ice-maker 26including a conduit 58 conveying water from a suitable supply conduit 59connected to a source such as household plumbing to valve means 66 formeasuring and distributing a predetermined amount of water through adischarge spout 62 connected to valve means 60 and thence into one ofthe receptacles 43. The sprocket 42 of the ice-maker apparatus 26 isoriented on the drive shaft 52 therefor so that the notches therein aresubstantially aligned with the protuberant portions of the cams 54, 56so that a given r'e ceptacle 48 on the belt 46 will be located beneaththe spout 62 when the valve means 60 allows a measured amount of waterto flow therethrough.

In accordance with certain of the principles of the present invention, athermoelectric unit 64 is mounted within the insulated door 14 in aspace behind the inner Wall 32 of the space 22 with the hot junctionsthereof being thermally insulated from the ice-making space 22 and withthe cold junctions thereof being in intimate heat transfer contact withan L-shaped member or ice-making panel 66 of a good thermally conductivematerial such as aluminum with said L-shaped member having one endthereof secured to the inner wall 32 of the space 22 and the oppositeend thereof directed outwardly of the inner wall 32 beneath the conveyorbelt 46 at a location where the bottoms of the receptacles 48 will be inintimate heat transfer contact therewith. The panel 66 is cooled by thecold junctions of the thermoelectric unit 64 for cooling the liquid inthe receptacles 48. The motor 50 moves the belt 46 relative to the panel66 at a speed to cause the water or other liquid deposited in thereceptacle adjacent the spout 62 to be frozen prior to reaching theroller 40 and once the bottom of the receptacle is in contact therewiththe outward movement thereof, as discussed above, will cause the frozenmaterial within the receptacle to be forced off the belt 46 and into astorage container 63 located within the space 22 beneath the roller 40.Suitable electrical switch means 69 may be associated with the icestorage container 68 for controlling the operation of the ice makerdrive motor 50 in accordance with the weight of the ice or other frozenmaterial present in the container 68.

The thermoelectric unit 64 is representatively illustrated as comprisinga plurality of thermocouples of the type shown in FIGURE connected inelectrical series relationship by straps 70 of a good electricalconductor such as copper. Each thermocouple includes an 11 typesemiconductor element 71 and a p type semiconductor 72 having the endsthereof secured to mounting elements 74 by soldering or the like. Thespace between the adjacent thermocouples is filled with a Freon-filledpolyurethane foam 76 for providing rigidity to the thermoelectric unit64 and for providing electrical and thermal insulation between the hotand cold ends of the thermocouples thereof. Furthermore, a layer ofsuitable adhesive '78 secures the straps 76) at the cold junctions ofthe thermocouple to the L-shaped member 66 for electrically insulatingtherebetween with said adhesive layer serving as a good thermalconductive path between the cold junctions and the L-shaped member 66.

In accordance with other of the principles of the present invention, aconduit 80 conveys water from the conduit 59 through a coil 32 locatedin heat transfer relationship with the hot ends of the thermocouples fordissipating heat therefrom exteriorly of both the food storage space 12in the refrigerator cabinet and the ice-making space 22 in the insulateddoor M. The cooling water passes from the coil 82 through a returnconduit 83 back to a suitable drain (not shown). Such an arrangement assures that the refrigeration system for the refrigerator cabinet 10 willbe able to operate with an optimum coefiicient of performance andfurther prevents the entrance of any excess heat into the space 22 thatmight interfere with ice making by the thermoelectric unit. Thearrangement of the thermoelectric unit 64 in combination with the icemaker 26 enables a common water source to serve the function ofproviding water for the ice-maker receptacles and for cooling the hotjunctions of the electrothermal unit. Furthermore, the provision of thecombination ice maker and thermoelectric cooling device in the door ofthe refrigerator enables ice-making capacity to be quickly installed ina standard production model freezerless refrigerator without thenecessity of providing modifications of the refrigeration systemthereof.

In the illustrated arrangement, the drive motor 50 is electricallyconnected to a suitable power source through a bimetallic thermostaticswitch 84 mounted upon the door 14 above the spout 62 and the belt 46for preventing operation of the machine under temperature conditionsthat would not freeze the liquid in the receptacles 41% prior to theirreaching the roller 49. The power for the thermoelectric unit 64 islocated in a small compartment (not shown) in the refrigerator door 14at a point thermally insulated from the remainder of the structure andincludes a transformer 86 having the primary coil thereof connected tothe power source and the secondary thereof having a center tap filamentSS and being electrically connected to the electrothermal unit 64,suitable rectifiers 91D and a choke 92 for limiting the fluctuations inthe power source in a predetermined manner.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerator having a cabinet and a door forming a first coolingcompartment, a refrigerator system operatively associated with saidcabinet for cooling said first cooling compartment to a firstpredetermined temperature, means defining a second cooling compartmentthermally insulated from said first cooling compartment, an ice maker insaid second cooling compartment including water supply means, meansincluding a thermocouple array having the cold junctions thereof in heattransfer relationship with said ice maker for reducing the temperaturethereof below freezing, said thermocouple array having the hot junctionsthereof substantially fully thermally insulated from said first andsecond cooling compartments, said water supply means being in heattransfer relationship with said hot junctions for dissipating heattherefrom exteriorly of said cabinet.

2. A refrigerator having a cabinet and a door forming a first coolingcompartment, a refrigerator system being operatively associated withsaid cabinet for cooling said first cooling compartment to a firstpredetermined temperature, means defining a second cooling compartmentin said door thermally insulated from said first cooling compartment, anice maker in said second cooling compartment, means including athermocouple array having the cold junctions thereof in heat transferrelationship with said ice maker for reducing the temperature thereofbelow freezing, said thermocouple array having the hot junctions thereofsubstantially fully thermally insulated from said first and secondcooling compartments, and means for dissipating heat from the hotjunctions of said thermocouple array exteriorly of said cabinet.

3. A refrigerator having a cabinet and a door forming a first coolingcompartment, a refrigerator system being operatively associated withsaid cabinet for cooling said first cooling compartment to a firstpredetermined temperature, means defining a second cooling compartmentin said door thermally insulated from said first cooling compartment, anice maker in said second cooling compartment including water supplymeans, means including a thermocouple array having the cold junctionsthereof in heat transfer relationship with said ice maker for reducingthe temperature thereof below freezing, said thermocouple array havingthe hot junctions therof substantially fully thermally insulated fromsaid first and second cooling compartments, said water supply meansbeing in heat transfer relationship with said hot junctions fordissipating heat therefrom exteriorly of said cabinet.

4. A refrigerator having a cabinet and a door forming a first coolingcompartment, a refrigerator system being operatively associated withsaid cabinet for cooling said first cooling compartment to apredetermined temperature, means defining a second cooling compartmentin said door thermally insulated from said first cooling compartment, aconveyor in said second cooling compartment having receptacles therein,means for driving said conveyor, a cooling panel in heat transferrelationship with said conveyor, means including a thermocouple arrayhaving the cold junctions thereof in heat transfer relationship withsaid cooling panel for reducing the temperature thereof below freezing,said thermocouple array having the hot junctions thereof substantiallyfully thermally insulated from said first and second coolingcompartments, and means for dissipating heat from the hot junctions ofsaid thermocouple array exteriorly of said compartment.

5. A refrigerator having a cabinet and a door forming a first coolingcompartment, a refrigerator system being operatively associated withsaid cabinet for cooling said first cooling compartment to apredetermined temperature, means defining a second cooling compartmentin said door, a conveyor in said second cooling compartment havingreceptacles therein, means for driving said conveyor, means operativelyassociated with said drive means for supplying water to saidreceptacles, a cooling panel in heat transfer relationship with saidconveyor, means including a thermocouple array having the cold junctionsthereof in heat transfer relationship with said cooling panel forreducing the temperature thereof below freezing, said thermocouple arrayhaving the hot junctions thereof substantially fully thermally insulatedfrom said first and second cooling compartments, said water supply meansbeing in heat transfer relationship with said hot junctions fordissipating heat therefrom exteriorly of said cabinet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSForaker Dec. 31, 1935 Roeder Dec. 20, 1960 Sheckler Nov. 14, 1961Staebler Jan. 15, 1963

1. A REFRIGERATOR HAVING A CABINET AND A DOOR FORMING A FIRST COOLINGCOMPARTMENT, A REFRIGERATOR SYSTEM OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAIDCABINET FOR COOLING SAID FIRST COOLING COMPARTMENT TO A FIRSTPREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE, MEANS DEFINING A SECOND COOLING COMPARTMENTTHERMALLY INSULATED FROM SAID FIRST COOLING COMPARTMENT, AN ICE MAKER INSAID SECOND COOLING COMPARTMENT INCLUDING WATER SUPPLY MEANS, MEANSINCLUDING A THERMOCOUPLE ARRAY HAVING THE COLD JUNCTIONS THEREOF IN HEATTRANSFER RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID ICE MAKER FOR REDUCING THE TEMPERA-